Looking like a cross between Kane and Mankind, NWA-TNA's Abyss has carved out a frightening niche of his own in the Nashville-based organization.

Attending high school in Cleveland, Ohio, Chris Parks made such an impact on the football field that he had his choice of places to attend university on football scholarships. He chose to attend Ohio University in 1988, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in sports administration. He played for a brief time in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers before his career ended in March 1993.

Two years later he signed on at Bonekrusher's National Pro Wrestling Center in Ohio, where he was trained by former WWE referee Roger Ruffin of the Northern Wrestling Federation. Parks, dubbed the Original Terminator, won his debut match by disqualification later that same month. Renamed "the All American" Chris Justice and later Prince Justice, Parks spent the next few years learning his craft in the NWF.

In 2001, Parks (as Prince Justice) would leave the NWF and wrestle for NWA Wildside, winning the NWA Wildside Heavyweight title in April and later teaming with A.J. Styles to win the Wildside Tag Team titles, and later battle Jerry "The King" Lawler as part of Memphis Power Pro Championship Wrestling.

Parks then headed even further south, all the way to Puerto Rico where he and Miguel Perez won the IWA Tag Team titles. However, the two partners had a falling out and the team split up. On May 17, 2003, Chris Justice defeated Perez to regain control of the titles, opting to give the other championship belt to his new tag team partner Glamour Boy Shane. While in Puerto Rico, Justice/Abyss would also hold the IWA Puerto Rico Hardcore title (twice) and the IWA Intercontinental Championship.

In the summer of 2003, Abyss would show up in the NWA-TNA organization, and amid a rocky relationship, was aligned with Kid Kash. After teaming together to battle America's Most Wanted, Kash blamed Abyss for a loss. Abyss had finally had enough of Kash's abuse and fought back, leading to a feud between the two former partners.

Abyss would find himself aligned with Red Shirt Security (Legend and Kevin Northcutt) and NWA Champion Jeff Jarrett. However, on the same night (February 4, 2004) that he was attacked by A.J. Styles during a match against El Leon, Abyss was forced to team with Styles. In an even more ironic twist, Abyss and Styles defeated Red Shirt Security to win the NWA Tag Team titles.

Much like he had with Miguel Perez in Puerto Rico years before, Abyss defeated his former partner (with some help from Lex Luger) to gain control of the tag team titles on February 25, 2004. However, the war between Abyss and Styles continued for several weeks afterwards, with Abyss defeating Styles to become the number one contender to the NWA title.

Abyss became aligned with Goldylocks, who used the big man in her feud against Eric Watts. A victory over Watts on June 30, 2004 allowed Goldylocks to gain control of Watts' NWA-TNA contract. Abyss found himself with a new tag team partner, as well, as he teamed with Alex Shelly, helping Goldylocks gain control on the TNA contracts of D-Ray 3000, Sonny Siaki and Shark Boy.

But things soured between Abyss and Goldylocks, with Abyss turning on Goldylocks during a six-person tag match against Watts, Siaki and Desire on September 8th, 2004. Following the split, Abyss began taking more and more independent dates. As 2005 began, Abyss quit NWA-TNA and rumours began that he was WWE-bound.

Abyss would step into the "6 Sides of Steel" cage at Lockdown in an attempt to defeat A.J. Styles to become the #1 contender. He was unsuccessful, however, and lost to Styles, suffering a seperated shoulder in the process. However, the injury did not keep Abyss out of action for long, as he returned to win the 20-Man Gauntlet Match at Hard Justice, defeating Ron Killings in the final moments.

Abyss would compete for the NWA World Championship on two occassions in the ensuing months but come up short both times. At Slammiversary, Abyss would watch as Raven outlasted A.J. Styles, Sean Waltman, Monty Brown and Abyss to become NWA Champion. In a one-on-one encounter against Raven at No Surrender, Abyss would again leave the ring empty-handed.

Abyss would then feud with Lance Hoyt before clashing with the equally unpredictable Sabu. The two would meet at Unbreakable with Abyss coming out the winner. Abyss would later clash with Sabu, not to mention Jeff Hardy and eventual winner Rhino in a Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory.

Over the fall of 2005, in addition to his work in TNA, Abyss has worked for several independent organizations, including Ring of Honor and NWA Cyberspace. On September 25th, 2005, Abyss defeated Bobby Roode to win the Border City Wrestling Heavyweight crown.

The feud with Sabu continued even after the Monster's Ball match, continuing with a NO-DQ match at Genesis and culminating in a barbed wire match at Turning Point before Abyss moved on to battle Rhino at Final Resolution and in a No DQ match at Against All Odds.

After teaming with Jarrett, Abyss and James Mitchell decided it was time to step up and take their shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, targeting Christian Cage and even going so far as to stalk his wife, Denise.

Cage won the battle (in a steel cage at Lockdown) but Abyss stole the NWA title belt, forcing Cage to come after it, leading to a Full Metal Mayhem rematch at Sacrifice. Cage won the battle and regained the belt, but Abyss wasn't ready to give up yet, defeating Rhino to qualify for the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary.

Jeff Jarrett would win that five-way match, but Jim Cornette confiscated the belt over the controversial finish.

Abyss, however, soon found himself mired in a feud with Brother Runt and the two would massacre each other in bloody gimmick matches.

The Monster then entered and later won a "Fight for the Right" tournament to face Sting at Genesis. There, Abyss beat Sting by disqualification to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Christian Cage came into the picture to dredge up Abyss' past, while at the same time Sting tried to lure Abyss away from Father James Mitchell.

Cage would expose Abyss as an ex-con and would win the title after defeating Abyss and Sting in a three-way at Final Resolution. But it would be Sting who provided the details of Abyss’s past, revealing Abyss had repeatedly shot his father in the back. Not surprisingly, that disclosure took their feud to another level.

Following a couple pay-per-view losses to Sting, Abyss joined his foe to go after Cage and AJ Styles. That partnership, however, was stymied by the escalating soap opera feel to the program when Mitchell brought out Abyss' "mother" and blackmailed him to remain under his control.

Abyss continued feuding against Cage and Mitchell and soon faced Mitchell’s new protégé -- Judas Mesias. Mesias would interfere in Abyss' matches and attack him from behind, leaving him beaten and bloodied.